2021 Wrapped: The Best Digital PR Campaigns of the Year

A successful digital PR campaign should boost brand recognition, build high-quality links, and strike a balance between newsworthiness and relevancy. That being said, creating a campaign that is picked up by a multitude of journalists and featured on top tier publications can be challenging in any year, nevermind an incredibly unpredictable one. So, as 2021 comes to an end, it’s time to give some well-deserved recognition to our favourite digital PR campaigns of the year. 

#1 The Poshest Home Counties 

For our high-end garden room client, we were tasked with creating a topical, newsworthy, and insightful campaign that had a luxury-focused angle. 

As 2021 was crowned the year of the ‘great resignation’ and working from home became the new norm, the news cycle was heavily geared toward changing work habits, new lifestyle trends, and emerging property markets. We used this as a basis for our campaign.

Strategy: While many people swapped the capital for the country in search of an extra room, more outdoor space, and a larger property, we set out to create a campaign that would tie in with this narrative. To do this, we created a metric comprising: Michelin Guide restaurants, riding schools, golf clubs, average property prices, and homes with garden rooms, to rank the poshest home counties where people may want to relocate to. 

With this campaign, we were able to land coverage across regional and luxury press, while increasing brand awareness and adding to our clients backlink profile. 

#2 Uber Lost and Found Index 

Uber reached almost 5 billion trips last year, indicating that most of us have probably used this popular ride-sharing app at least once in our lives. And with this, there’s a chance many of us have left something behind upon reaching our destination. 

So, to create an interesting data story, Uber conducted their annual ‘Lost and Found’ index,  revealing the most unusual items riders left behind. 

Strategy: Each year, Uber collects data from their “lost item” submissions on the app to compile a list of the most commonly forgotten items, and the most unusual. Ranging from the most commonly left items, such as phones, keys and wallets, to more unusual things like fresh shrimp, a tattoo machine, and even a raw chicken, this list is definitely worth a read. Uber also included unique trends, as well as the most forgetful days of the week and of the year. 

This campaign is a great example of utilising internal data to create a unique, and headline-worthy digital PR campaign. As a result, this campaign gained links across publications ranging from Complex, to Travel and Leisure, and Buzzfeed. 

For the full list, check out the post here. 

#3 Paralympics Campaign 

As the Paralympics were set to take place in 2021, millions of people were preparing to see their favourite sports played by their countries’ qualified athletes. With this, we were challenged to create a campaign that would include our golf travel client in the narrative, and gain links from high quality domains. The biggest hurdle: golf isn’t included in the Paralympic games. 

So while viewers can watch 23 sports at the games, ranging from wheelchair fencing and five-a-side football to archery and powerlifting, many are left wondering why golf is not represented? 

Strategy: In order to take a deeper dive into the conversation, we create a campaign looking at:

• The disparity between sports included in the Olympic vs Paralympic Games
• The sports seeing an increase in interest around the Paralympics 
• And why we firmly believe that golf should be included in the 2024 Paralympic Games

Using an infographic, we were able to illustrate the disparities between the Olympics and Paralympics, mainly the events that aren’t represented. To gauge what Paralympic events were inspiring others to research, watch, and even participate, we looked at Google search trend data to highlight the ‘most searched sports during the Paralympics’. From there, we did our research, asking active members in the disabled golfing community to give us their opinion. 

All in all, this allowed us to create a fantastic campaign, generating immense conversation around inclusion in the games, and make a case for the disabled golfing community. 

To see the full campaign, find the full blog post here. 

#4 Leipzig – City of Music

With the likes of Adele and Justin Bieber consistently topping the charts, it’s no wonder these artists are able to rake in millions of pounds every year from Spotify streams. Similarly, composers like Bach, Beethoven and Mozart top the most listened to classical composers on Spotify, bringing in millions of plays from listeners across the globe. But, if these platforms had been around when these composers were alive, or if they were creating music in modern day, how much would they earn? 

Strategy: To find out, Leipzig.Travel, the tourist website for the musical city in Germany, calculated these earnings to reveal the top earners: 

This campaign was data heavy – as many fantastic campaigns are. By thinking outside the box, Leipzig.Travel was able to relate their deep history of classical music to mainstream press, by drawing Spotify into the story. 

#5 Office Demand Campaign 

As lockdown eased and public spaces opened up, we were tasked with creating a digital PR campaign for a client that provides businesses with serviced office spaces. 

At this time, the question had risen: who wants to go back to the office, and where in the UK are businesses most interested in returning to?

Strategy: In response to this narrative, we created a data story to reveal ‘the cities where office space is most-in demand’. By analysing the average keyword monthly search data, we were able to show the change in demand for office space pre-pandemic compared to present day. The data then looked at 18 major cities in the UK to analyse the percentage change in searches for ‘office space’.  

Through this campaign, we were able to gain links across regional, HR, and business publications, and establish our client as an influential voice in the industry. 

So, as 2021 comes to a wrap, what were your favourite campaigns of the year?